94 



STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



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'r EW birds have more deceived and 

 puzzled the learned than those 

 belonging to this family. Some have 

 described the bird of Paradise as an inhabitant 

 of the air, living only upon the dew of heaven, 

 and never coming down to earth. Others have 

 acquiesced in the latter part of its history, but 

 have represented it as feeding on flying insects. 

 Some have asserted that it was without feet, 

 and others have ranked it among the birds of 

 prey. 



The great beauty of this bird's plumage, and 

 the deformity of its legs, seem to have given 

 rise to most of these erroneous reports. The 

 savages of the Molucca Islands, of which it is 

 an inhabitant, perceiving the inclination the 

 Europeans had for this beautifal bird, carefully 

 cut off its legs before they brought it to mar- 



